Big Show Success!!

Hey guys! I just wanted to pop in here to talk about my newest obsession this semester: UMW’s Performing Arts Company, or, as it will be called from here on out, PAC. Let me tell you my dance story.

I’ve danced since I was five and up until the beginning of middle school. I did tap, contemporary, jazz, modern, tumbling, and, my favorite, hip hop. I’ve never been a big sports person, but I love dance.

My teachers were usually fun and very kind, and I like how a dance piece is something you rehearse ahead of time, as opposed to making it up on the spot within the confines of certain rules like the other sports I tried and failed at. Yes, there is the reality of messing up (my last recital before I quit, I fell backward off the stage onto the sandbags behind the curtain. I should get a medal for my professional recovery), but I always practice my dances until I’m 100% confident.

I quit dance in early middle school for a few different reasons: we had to change studios because my old studio was too expensive, my new dance teacher was mean and cranky, and, above all, I got tragically self-conscious. I was quite good at dancing, so in seventh grade they placed me in a dance with older girls–I think high schoolers although I can’t remember. Of course, everyone knows that the way to get better is to practice with people who are at a higher skill level than you, but I got freaked out after the first class when they were all so much better and I felt as if I would never catch up. Lo and behold I quit dance and instead found a love for working out at the gym (which I still hold, don’t get me wrong).

Flash forward to last semester, and my friend invited me to a dance recital called Small Show that she was participating in. I wanted to support her, and, as a former dancer, I was ecstatic to see a recital. Now picture me sitting front and center in the audience, hooting and hollering after every song, and by the end I’m absolutely furious. Why? Well, one of the only things I could think was why am I not on that stage dancing right now? I had had a vague sense that Mary Washington had a dance team–it was one of the things I made sure to ask when I toured the campus–but in the hustle and bustle of my first semester at college I knew I’d missed the auditions. (Plus, if I’m being an honest, I was scared that I wouldn’t make the cut of any real dance team so I didn’t seek it out as much as I could’ve.)

But now I saw what I had missed due to my lack of motivation to join dance. My friend informed me that she was a member of PAC, which is a student-run dance organization that puts on two performances a semester: Small Show and Big Show. I went to Big Show as well that semester, which was absolutely phenomenal; it lit in me an excitement to dance that I hadn’t felt in years. I hadn’t realized just how much I’d missed dancing and performing. Afterwards, I made her promise to tell me when next semester’s auditions were taking place.

Winter break came and went, and this time I was absolutely determined to join PAC. I went to Club Carnival for one reason and one reason only, and I spent about 20 minutes hunting down their table. Placements could’ve gone better, but they also could’ve gone much worse. I was comforted by the fact that everyone gets into PAC regardless of skill level and experience.

Much to my disappointment, I was so busy this semester that I could only fit one dance into my schedule. Much to my excitement, that dance ended up being the song “Omnitrix” by Joey Valence & Brae, choreographed by only the best person ever. I couldn’t have asked for a more encouraging choreographer to welcome me back into the world of dance.

I struggled a bit this semester with general anxiety and stress from my crowded schedule, but I knew that it would all be okay because every Thursday from 8:30pm-9:30pm I got to dance. We had a fantastic group of dancers in the piece and it was just plain fun–the choreo, the music, the whole process. It brought me so much joy it’s almost absurd.

When it was time for the show, I was shocked by how natural everything felt all this time later: the long dress rehearsal, the nervous energy backstage, even the changing in front of a dozen other random dancers. I’m proud to say that Big Show went incredibly! I’m really happy with the way I danced, and I think we did an amazing job as a group. Here’s the YouTube video! I’m the bald one.

Big Show was such a positive experience and the community has been so welcoming that I’ve turned into PAC’s number one advocate, taking it upon myself to pressure my other friends to join. I’m already super excited for next semester and I’ve been planning my class and work schedule to maximize my free time for dance.

I’ll keep you updated on what I’m up to, but for now, just know that I’m probably thinking about dance and PAC.